My entire day was spent on nothing but it most probably one of the most awesome art events in the Philippines: ICON Manila. It's an annual event where international artists come to the Philippines to talk about their experiences of how they were able to get where they were, and even show a demo of their craft. I just got back from the event like two hours ago after having met these awesome artists (namely: Pascal Campion, Aaron Blaise, Victoria Ying, Kim Jung Gi, and Armand Serrano, who has been hosting the event for the past three years), as well as familiar faces of friends I've met from school, work, conventions, and the Animation Council of the Philippines. The conference was yet another learning experience for me, but not just for the techniques each of the artists showed, but it made me reflect more as an artist.
Pascal's career experience in his early days were similar to what I was facing: getting too stoked and occupied at work, that I often forego socializing or having more time to myself or others. Kim's never-dying disciplinary force of drawing helped in making him grow, considering he had been drawing since high school, and staying really humble and funny at the same time. Aaron's wise words of getting out there and observing life made him understand animals more and, eventually, made films with anthropomorphic creatures show such character. Victoria emphasized on a character's personality, to which made me reflect on my own characters in my webcomic. Armand told us to think inside first before going outside the box, since what we need to solve a problem might already be right in front of our eyes. Truly, each individual had their own take of what was important in their work, and how these helped them in their own career paths.
What truly intrigued me though was the entire conference felt more like a livestream to me, with the audience constantly blurting out questions for the artist to answer, and likewise the artist would communicate with them. It got me thinking of how I do my livestreams (or rather how I poorly do them, considering I've been postponing them for the past few weeks now due to other matters). It seemed that I enjoyed it more when the artists responded verbally, as opposed to just reading some text. Not only that, but the way how they're loosed and relaxed in drawing made it all enjoyable to the eye. In all honesty, I miss having those times during my livestreams, and I hope that I somehow get to communicate with my audience more.
I also considered the thought that some artists see themselves in the industry like it's a competition to be the very best, like no one ever was! NGL, there were times I had pushed myself to that mantra, but with today's event, it made me think of this in a different perspective. Young artists treat it like they're out to compete with everyone (which I guess can be a small form of motivation), but instead it should be more of a collaboration of ideas. That's how films like Zootopia and Tangled became successful: through teamwork. The artists weren't there to show off their ego as someone who works in Disney. Rather, they worked together and pitched different concept art which would help tell the story better. If there's one thing I sort of lack, it's getting to reach out to other creatives and properly collaborating ideas with them. It's never too late, though, and I do hope I get the opportunity to work on projects with different artists, whether on this site or not.
In any case, I'll most definitely continue the livestream later (Sunday, 9:00am, GMT+8). I'll also try to see if I can get the microphone to work properly so I can tell my stories even better. To those willing to watch, do feel free to ask me anything (and I mean literally anything; I noticed in today's talk that people would ask random questions, but it got the ball rolling in terms of conversation, and it was definitely better than dead silence while the artists drew their demonstrations in front of a large crowd). I'll be looking forward to see you then!
